INTRODUCTION:
World
War II was the first war to take place during a time booming with technological
advancements. Not to say that WWI was not, but WWII was the first war to have
mass media (television, newspapers, and propaganda posters) at its fingertips
as a means to help support/fund war efforts, primarily through communication
with United States citizens. Since citizens were encouraged to contribute to
war efforts through war bonds and used cooking oil contributions, gaining
citizen support was particularly crucial to winning the war. Unfortunately, the
process of gaining citizen support and the results of having said support
proved to leave Japanese people, Jewish people, and women at a disadvantage.
Through the use of propaganda, concentration/internment camps, war efforts and
legislation, people who were not White American males were dehumanized and
marginalized during and post World War II.
PROPAGANDA:
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Propaganda and WWII:
Propaganda holds a place as one of the most influential means of communication between government and society before, during, and after World War II. Women were targeted as a potential threat to the country because they were said to be gossips and would thus divulge war information to spies; the phrase "Loose Lips Sink Ships" arose during this time. Ironically, women were also targeted as potentially useful on the home front once the number of male citizens dwindled, leaving an abundance of job openings. Japanese people--primarily Japanese Americans--were graphically depicted as animals in propaganda to instill a sense of fear among those who were not Japanese. Additionally, dehumanizing Japanese people in propaganda desensitized Americans so that they would not feel guilty for bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki and for imprisoning Japanese Americans in internment camps. Minorities were lured into joining the war through racial unity depicted in propaganda. Propaganda was also frequently used in Nazi Germany to convince the Aryan nation that Jewish people were an inferior race and that they deserved to be imprisoned and killed. |
Concentration Camps:
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Interment Camps:The Executive Order 9066 called for the people of Japanese descent, who resided on the Pacific Coast of the United States, to be relocated to desolate internment camp. The reason for their relocation was due to the attack of Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December, 1941 by the Japanese forces. The relocation and confinement of the Japanese citizens was a dehumanizing, racial, and hypocritical act done by the U.S. The U.S. fought the Nazi’s to liberate the Jews yet the U.S. did the same thing to the Japanese by locking them up into internment camps. The U.S. did not treat the Japanese internees as extreme and cruel as the Nazis treated the Jews but the U.S. still saw them as a threat and locked them in poor barrack-like conditions. It made the Japanese people feel humiliated, hurt, and deceived as the land that heavily promotes freedom took away theirs. This act changed the perspective of many White Americans that had built an anti-Japanese mindset and then came the term “Jap” to become racial insult. After their liberation, they had to start their life all over again and it they would be met with a bumpy road ahead of them.
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Hiroshima/Nagasaki:
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The Morality Behind the Atomic Bomb
In being the first country to use nuclear weapons against civilian populations, the United States was then in direct violation of internationally accepted principles of war with respect to the wholesale and indiscriminate destruction of populations. Thus, August 1945 is a most dangerous and ominous precedent that marked a new dismal beginning in the history of humanity, a big moral step backward. By early 1945, World War II the U.S air force had complete support of the American people to intentionally kill mass numbers of Japanese citizens, due that they were seem as "yellow subhumans". In this new moral context, with mass killings of an enemy's civilians even seeming desirable. But, given the patriotic calculus of the time, there was no hesitation about using A-bombs to kill many Japanese in order to save the 25,000-46,000 Americans who might otherwise have died in the invasions. Put bluntly, Japanese life -- including civilian life -- was cheap. Between 90,000 and 120,000 people died in Hiroshima and between 60,000 and 80,000 died in Nagasaki, for a grand total of between 150,000 and 200,000 most cruel deaths. "The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them. When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast." (President Truman). |
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Minorities:
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Minorities fighting overseas during WWII:
While they were overseas, minorities were treated very harshly during World War II. African Americans as well as Japanese Americans were segregated and those that were not (such as Mexican Americans) suffered from a high level of racial discrimination. They fought to stop fascism yet their very own country did not want them; which is where hypocrisy came into play. Even though they were treated very harshly, most men showed courage and that allowed other races to see how powerful they were. A lot of positive changes occurred when the soldiers came back home which shaped the beginning of the fight for racial equality. There was no more segregation amongst troops, many Native Americans left their reservation to begin new lives, and medals were given to minorities for their war efforts. All in all, this war helped minorities in the long run. |
Trials:
Through the use of legislative acts of the United States Government, Japanese American were marginalized and dehumanized during and post World War II. Different races of Americans were held in interment camps but, a big percentage were of Japanese descent. When Japanese American Were released from internment camps they were still discriminated through out the post war. The United States began to compensate Japanese Americans lives by holding commemorations through the United States. In 1948, President Truman signed the Japanese Americans Evacuation Claims Act to help Japanese Americans with their economic loss at the time. A total of 38 million was given out to Japanese Americans. In 1952, The McCarran-Walter Act allowed first generation Japanese Americans to receive the right to become natural born U.S. citizens. The lives of Japanese Americans began to progress and get better and a new perspective was sough of people who were Japanese decent.
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